I Hate Math! (Wait. No I don't.)

I Hate Math! (No, I don't.)

It is a funny thing - people often feel that they "don't get Math", but then are absolute whizzes at making change, figuring out area, or buying items on sale.

The beauty of Math is that it is all around us. Everywhere you go - picking items in the grocery store (which one is the best buy?), driving the car (how fast am I going?), cutting the grass (how big is that area?), etc. - has Math in it, somewhere.

Math is real life. Too often we have trouble transferring the 3D Math we know into 2D Math tests. The fact is, we often know more than we think we do.

As teachers and parents, we can help to make Math authentic. Use every opportunity you can to make kids love Math. The first step is to make them see how they use it every day already, and are actually pretty good at it. (Don't you like doing the things you do really well?)

Here are some suggestions:Which is bigger? How do you know?Which is the better bargain? How do you know?What does this graph show? How do you know?

Did you know?:Baking and building are all about fractions.Getting kids to talk about Math (the "How do you know?" part) builds their confidence.You can actually be MORE effective if you don't know the answer to your child's Math problem. Your child will have to figure it out and then explain it to you. Math can be fun - make a game out of learning times tables and other basics.